The assets of the board were transferred to Northern Electric plc in March 1990, and the company was privatised in December of the same year.

At the end of 1996 the company was acquired by American corporation, CalEnergy, which formed a subsidiary, CE Electric to manage Northern Electric.

[1] The company was split into supply and distribution arms under the Utilities Act 2000.

In 2001, the supply business was disposed in an asset swap with npower, exchanging the North East consumer business for the distribution arm of Yorkshire Electricity.

It is licensed as the distribution network operator for the North East England region by the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets.